Playing with Fire

CONDOLENCE. The older sister of Speaker Jose de Venecia, Mrs. Aurora “Rory” de Venecia-San Jose, wife of Ramon San Jose Jr., returned to the Lord, July 5th, at age 90. Her remains lie in state at the Heritage Memorial Park, Taguig City starting July 6th Friday until July 8th Sunday.

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Everything works together for good.

That’s biblical, folks, but it squarely fits the card for what the city of Dagupan and the Dept of Education in our agenda for youth development.

No less than presidential adviser Francis Tolentino, former governor of the Metro Manila Development Authority and Tagaytay city mayor, underscored in his “Agew na Dagupan” program speech on June 20.

Representing another presidential assistant — but a very special one, Bong Co — Tolentino said that there was an element of genius in the idea of putting in the school curriculum for young pupils a study of local history.

He was all praises to the city government led by Mayor Belen Fernandez and the City schools headed by Superintendent Lorna Bugayong for citing the value of studying of our past.

It’s common sense that before one can go anyplace he should be able to first be familiar with his own locality, and in this case, the framers of this education strategy to require young minds to study their own locality are correct.

It will be pointed out that, in fact, one of the reasons many of our countrymen don’t prosper as fast as they should was because they don’t know their direction in life.

That is why many education critics blame college graduates for being ignoramuses or unfit to deal with particular situations simply because they do not have a working idea of what local and situational problems require.

There is that joke that many college graduates including those receiving high honors end up as incompetent or unable to accomplish simple jobs. The paradox sometimes is that those who were not good in school— (we are speaking of our educational system in the past) turn out to be successful because they succeeded to learn and study the requirements of successful living in their own unique way.

Our Education authorities these days realize that to beat the odds they require a good understanding of local situations and local problems before anything else as this will lead to a pragmatic approach to real and functional approach to education.

Not only that, this emphasis on mastering our local environment and especially where we came from is sine qua non to marinating the student to actual conditions that would affect his social and intellectual adjustments.

At the same time this emphasis on education of our own history will enable students to appreciate and love their own and will make them masters of their future.

Congratulations to the men and women of educational system.

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All this brouhaha cover leptospirosis which has killed several people in many parts of the country is an offshoot of our unclean environment.

The shocking publicity of several deaths caused by this disease should have the effect of “Gising Na, mga Kababayan.”

It really doesn’t pay, in fact, it is dangerous to take things for granted as far as insuring the cleanliness of our environment is concerned.

Kailan ka pa aangal kung ikaw ay tepok na … ng ihi … ng daga. Grrr…

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All this talk about the so called “basketbrawl” involving our national players was in our view a case of poor leadership.

No one is to blame here but some people who are officiating the games. it’s a case of players following the leader.

Those responsible for this national shame should apologize ASAP, no ifs, no buts.

The honor of the country is at stake.

Instead of indulging in non-stop blame pointing game, maybe it’s best to shut up and get back to fine form for which Filipinos are known for. The sooner we get out of this shame the better.

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Greetings to our partners in basic education and youth education, Dr. Agape Manaois Nabua, Malued Elementary school principal; new district supervisor Jane Cajayon and model teacher Acela Calleja of Malued for their consistent work for youth development. And the nameless others who are making our community a better place due to their honest work for the young.